1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a lock device, and more particularly, to a lock device whose release button and cover are integrally designed to make the cover lock the base firmly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
If a cover (e.g., a cap, door, etc.) was designed to perform the actions of “locking” or “releasing” relative to a base in the past, a known approach was to make the cover lock a fastener on the base. Besides, a release button was disposed on the base beyond the cover. Each of the foregoing release button and the cover was an individual component. When a user closed the foregoing cover to the base, the cover would push away the fastener of the base first and got locked later. When the user pushed the release button, the release button would push the fastener of the base away to make the fastener release from the cover. Moreover, after the user took off the cover and released the release button, the fastener which was pushed away by the release button would return back to its original position.
With the development of information and the progress of technology, applications of electronic products are getting more and more universal. In order to cope with the developments of industry and commerce, and the frequent and close interaction of business, almost all electronic products are produced to cope with the requirements of lightness and impact size. It can be obviously known that the designs of space are getting very strict and limited. That is to say, the above-mentioned approach and the mechanism of designing a button to release the lock situation at the space beyond the cover will confront a strict test in space design and limit the application scope.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the integration of the foregoing cover into release button is the first approach which can be directly thought of. In other words, the foregoing cover can operated as a release button to comply with the limitations of space design. Thereby, when the user pushes the foregoing cover to close on the base, the cover will push the retainer of the base away and then gets locked; when the user pushes the cover downward, the cover will push the retainer of the base away, so as to release the lock situation between the retainer and the cover.
Besides, if one wants to realize the functions of “pushing to lock” and “pushing to release” toward a cover on the same axle in the profile of the cover, a door lock device will be regarded as a major lock structure in the second approach. Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a known door lock device 20. As shown in FIG. 1, the door lock device 20 has a housing 21 with proper thickness. A flange 22 is formed at one side of the housing 21, and two hooks 23 are formed at both sides of the housing 21. A locking space 26 with a universal thickness of 2 mm is defined between the flange 22 and the hooks 23. Besides, an accommodating trough is formed in the interior of the housing 21 so that an elastic hook 25 which can move backward and forward can be adapted to be disposed in the accommodating trough. An opened clip arm 24 is formed at the front end of the elastic hook 25. The assembling method of the door lock device 20 is to form a positioning hole on a straight plate 11 of a casing 10 for the door lock device 20 to position, and to force the clip arm 24 with a lock 31 which is formed on a corresponding door 30 in advance. When the lock 31 on the door 30 is pushed into the clip arm 24 of the door lock device 20, the door 30 can be positioned on the casing 10, and the lock 31 can be mounted in the locking space 26.
In general, the method and mechanism which are used by the foregoing door lock device to release the lock situation can be often seen on door designs of middle-sized or large-sized electronic equipment, such as a photocopier, a printer, a computer, etc. Besides, a common ball-point pen in the market has a switch button. When the switch button is pushed, the pen point of the ball-point pen will expose out for writing; when the switch button is pushed again, the pen point of the ball-point pen will return back to its original position and be stored away. The mechanism is the same as that of the foregoing second approach.
However, the foregoing first approach will encounter the follow-up problems in practical operations. After pushing the cover to push the retainer of the base away, the user must take off the cover in a very short time (approximately in a flash), or the retainer which was pushed away will return to its original position and keep the cover in the lock situation. Therefore, if the foregoing first approach is adopted, the take-off speed of the cover must be faster than the returning speed of the retainer of the base, after pushing the cover.
Moreover, although having the advantages of ease to disassemble and ease to assemble, the second approach still has the follow-up problems. The door lock device is always on the same axle during locking and releasing, and an excess stroke is used to achieve the functions of locking and releasing. Therefore, an idle stroke must be reserved under the cover, which makes the cover be supported improperly and fix on the base unstably. This situation may cause a cover to be released and separated from the base of goods due to an unexpected crash or users' inadvertent pushes during the transportation of the goods. The situation is very dangerous for packing an electronic product (e.g., a hard disk) which is easily damaged. Furthermore, another situation will occur by utilizing the door lock device; that is, when the foregoing excess stroke is not enough, the cover will not be switched and returned back.
Accordingly, the major objective of the invention is to provide a lock device whose release button and cover are integrally designed, so as to make the cover to firmly lock the base. Moreover, by controlling the particular spring stroke which is designed under the release button, the function of taking off the cover under the release situation can be achieved. Thus, the lock device of the invention can achieve the function of locking and releasing certainly and solve the above-mentioned problems.